GOING GREEK (AGAIN)

THINKIN' LIKE LINCOLN

We're going to take a look at tense within the context of another famous presidential speech. This time it's Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. Why? Because it has three important things going for it:

• It's incredibly well-known. (It's Honest Abe, guys.)

• It's a rhetorical masterpiece.

• It's short.

(We'll leave you to decide which of those three is the most important.)

For those of you who have gotten a bit rusty on your Civil War history, Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address in 1863, when the Civil War was still raging. The speech was meant as a dedication of the Soldier's National Cemetery (which happens to be located in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania—hence the speech's name).

A couple other tidbits about the speech:

• Lincoln gave his brief address after a longer speech from Edward Everett, who was known as one of America's best speakers. (Hmm…Everett's speech doesn't seem to have lived on into history the way Lincoln's did. Wonder why?)

• It's thought that Lincoln was suffering from smallpox when he gave the address. (Source)

If you want to read more about the historical context of the speech, we've got you covered. Take a look here.

You don't need all the background information to appreciate the rhetoric of the speech, though. All that takes is reading it. Do that here. (We told you it was short.)

Suggestion: read it aloud to really get a sense of the rhythm of the language. Go ahead and do your best Abraham Lincoln impression. What did Lincoln sound like? Well, no one knows, since there are no audio recordings of his voice. So, really, do your best Daniel Day-Lewis-as-Abraham-Lincoln impression.

Let's look at how Lincoln handled tense in the speech:

• Begins with past tense: Fourscore and seven years ago […]

• Switches to present tense in the middle: Now we're engaged in a great civil war […]

• Switches to future tense near the end—It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work […]—and stays in the future tense until the end of the speech.

The speech was intended to be ceremonial—a way to honor the dead soldiers by dedicating the cemetery. Recall how Heinrichs said this kind of speech usually uses the present tense. And Lincoln does use the present tense when he speaks explicitly about dedicating the cemetery:

We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. (Source)

But Lincoln switches to future tense toward the end of the speech because he wants to accomplish more than just a dedication—he wants his audience to make a decision. Remember what Heinrichs said at the end of Chapter 3: "If you want your audience to make a choice, focus on the future."

The Civil War wasn't over yet, and Lincoln wants his audience to decide to persevere—to keep up the fight. (Source)

To finish, as Lincoln says, the "great task remaining before us."

Or, to paraphrase in a decidedly un-masterful way: let's win this war, folks.

LINCOLN WAS SO PATHETIC

Since you just read the Gettysburg Address in the last lesson, we're going to keep talking about it now, because Lincoln made heavy use of one of the argument types Heinrichs' talked about in Chapter 4. Care to venture a guess as to which one?

(Seriously: close your eyes and take a guess. Did Lincoln rely most heavily on ethos, logos, or pathos?)

Now read this and see if you guessed right:

• Gettysburg Address: Rhetoric

That's right—you could call the Gettysburg Address "pathetic" and you'd be both right and completely respectful toward Mr. Lincoln. In this case, the word "pathetic" means "relating to emotions" and not "arousing pity." You're not calling the Gettysburg Address a loser—you're calling it emotionally powerful.

THE POWER OF LOGOS

Using logos as your primary means of argument in a speech doesn't mean your speech has to lack emotion. A fantastic example of this is Sojourner Truth's mind-meltingly amazing speech, "Ain't I a Woman?"

If you're not already at least a little bit familiar with this speech, Sojourner Truth, or the time period she lived in, we've got you covered here.

Once you've gotten your feet wet, read the full text of that speech here.

Finally, read a little bit about how Truth used logic in her speech here. (Can we also point out how cool the phrase "Truth used logic" is, and how fun it was for us to write?)

While it's true that the primary type of argument in this speech is logos (logic), Truth clearly blended pathos (emotion) and ethos (character) in there, as well. By using her experience as a Black woman, she's calling upon her character to show the audience she knows what she's talking about.

And it's hard to read a line like "when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me!" and not feel a little emotional. (You know—unless you're a robot with no single shred of human feeling inside you whatsoever.)